Getting the Brother HL-2040 to print under Ubuntu 11.04 “Natty Narwhal”

Our Brother HL-2040 printer is a great little workhorse, and has always worked pleasingly well under both Windows and Linux (and as a shared printer). However when I upgraded from Ubuntu 10.10 to 11.04, it went a little bit haywire. No matter what I did, the printer’s response was to print infinite blank pages. Fortunately, the fix is easy!

The Brother HL-2040 printer, a great little workhorse

This is already registered as a bug.  A quick Google search pointed me here: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/foomatic-db/+bug/768727

The fix is to simply change your printer driver.  Ubuntu 11.04 automatically selects the Brother HL-2060 drivers for the HL-2040 printer.  Unfortunately these drivers aren’t compatible.  The driver you want to select is the Brother HL-1030 (foomatic/hl1250).

You can do this by going into the System menu, into Administration, then into Printing.  Right-click on your printer, select Properties, then click ‘Change’ beside Make & Model.  From there, you want to find the Brother HL-1030.